Currently, when a subscriber of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) wants to check his or her electronic mail, the subscriber connects to the subscriber's ISP and any new mail is downloaded to the subscriber's computer, or data terminal equipment (DTE), via the subscriber's data communication equipment (DCE), e.g., a modem, which is coupled to the DTE. The subscriber may have to dial in to the ISP in order for these events to occur or the subscriber may be connected to a server that periodically connects with the ISP or that has a "nailed up" connection to the ISP to enable email for the subscriber to be downloaded to the server. In each of these cases, email intended for the subscriber is ultimately downloaded from the ISP and displayed on a monitor comprised by the subscriber's DTE.
Oftentimes, people solicit business over the Internet by sending out email messages, which may be, for example, advertisements, to large numbers of people. The recipients of these messages often are not interested in receiving these messages. Sometimes these messages contain a large quantity of data and may take quite a bit of time to download. Furthermore, some of these messages contain data such as computer viruses that can adversely affect the subscriber's computer.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that allow unwelcome or unsolicited email messages to be screened out so that they are not downloaded to the subscriber, or to allow the messages to be provided to the subscriber in return for charging a fee to the sender.